Sterna maxima

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

View Printer Friendly

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	CHARADRIIFORMES	LARIDAE

Scientific Name:

Sterna maxima

Species Authority:

Boddaert, 1783

Common Name/s:

English	–	Royal Tern
French	–	Sterne royale

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Least Concern ver 3.1

Year Assessed:

2009

Assessor/s:

BirdLife International

Reviewer/s:

Bird, J., Butchart, S.

Justification:
This species has a very large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is very large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

History:

2008	–	Least Concern
2004	–	Least Concern

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	The Royal Tern is found in the Americas and the Atlantic coast of Africa. In Africa is breed from Mauritania to Guinea, ranging in winter from Morocco to Namibia. In the Americas it breeds from southern California (USA) to Sinaloa (Mexico), from Maryland to Texas (USA), through the West Indies to the Guianas and possibly Brazil, on the Yucatan Peninsula, in south Brazil, Uruguay and north Patagonia (Argentina). It winters from Washington (USA) south to Peru on the western coast, and from Texas to south Brazil on the eastern side¹.
Countries:	Native: Angola; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Aruba; Bahamas; Barbados; Benin; Bermuda; Brazil; Cameroon; Canada; Cayman Islands; Colombia; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Costa Rica; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; French Guiana; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Jamaica; Liberia; Martinique; Mauritania; Mexico; Montserrat; Morocco; Namibia; Netherlands Antilles; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Panama; Peru; Puerto Rico; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Martin (French part); Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Suriname; Togo; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands; United States; Uruguay; Venezuela; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.; Western Sahara Vagrant: Belize; Gibraltar; Ireland; Norway; Paraguay; Portugal; Spain; Sudan; United Kingdom Present - origin uncertain: Chile; Mozambique
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Behaviour This species undergoes post-breeding dispersive movements northwards before migrating southwards for the winter¹. It breeds between April and June² in dense colonies of 100-4,000 pairs often near colonies of Laughing Gull Larus atricilla and Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis¹. The species may also nest singly amidst colonies of other tern species¹. It usually feeds singly or in small flocks and roosts gregariously even outside of the breeding season¹. Habitat Breeding For breeding the species shows a preference for inaccessible sites including barren sandy beaches, islands in saltmarsh, dredge spoil and coral islands surrounded by shallow water and with a high degree of visibility, no mammalian predators and little vegetation¹. It also forages along estuaries, in lagoons and in mangroves during this season, mostly within 100 m of the shore but up to 40 km from the breeding colony¹. Non-breeding Outside of the breeding season the species forages within 100 m of the land along sheltered coasts in estuaries, harbours and river mouths, sometimes also foraging a short distance inland along broad rivers¹. Diet Its diet consists predominantly of small fish 3-18 cm long as well as squid, shrimps and crabs¹. Breeding site The nest is a simple scrape¹ in sand³ in inaccessible sites surrounded by shallow water near the mouths of bays with a high degree of visibility, no mammalian predators and little vegetation¹. Management information The preferred breeding sites of this species are often vulnerable to flooding¹.
Systems:	Terrestrial; Marine

Habitat and Ecology:

Behaviour This species undergoes post-breeding dispersive movements northwards before migrating southwards for the winter¹. It breeds between April and June² in dense colonies of 100-4,000 pairs often near colonies of Laughing Gull Larus atricilla and Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis¹. The species may also nest singly amidst colonies of other tern species¹. It usually feeds singly or in small flocks and roosts gregariously even outside of the breeding season¹. Habitat Breeding For breeding the species shows a preference for inaccessible sites including barren sandy beaches, islands in saltmarsh, dredge spoil and coral islands surrounded by shallow water and with a high degree of visibility, no mammalian predators and little vegetation¹. It also forages along estuaries, in lagoons and in mangroves during this season, mostly within 100 m of the shore but up to 40 km from the breeding colony¹. Non-breeding Outside of the breeding season the species forages within 100 m of the land along sheltered coasts in estuaries, harbours and river mouths, sometimes also foraging a short distance inland along broad rivers¹. Diet Its diet consists predominantly of small fish 3-18 cm long as well as squid, shrimps and crabs¹. Breeding site The nest is a simple scrape¹ in sand³ in inaccessible sites surrounded by shallow water near the mouths of bays with a high degree of visibility, no mammalian predators and little vegetation¹. Management information The preferred breeding sites of this species are often vulnerable to flooding¹.

Systems:

Terrestrial; Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	The species is potentially threatened by the contamination of large prey with pesticides (through bioaccumulation in the food chain)¹. It has also suffered dramatic declines over the past 25 years in California due to the disappearance of its staple prey (the Pacific sardine) through overfishing¹. Utilisation Egg-collecting is known to occur at breeding colonies of this species^{1, 4}.

Major Threat(s):

The species is potentially threatened by the contamination of large prey with pesticides (through bioaccumulation in the food chain)¹. It has also suffered dramatic declines over the past 25 years in California due to the disappearance of its staple prey (the Pacific sardine) through overfishing¹. Utilisation Egg-collecting is known to occur at breeding colonies of this species^{1, 4}.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2009. Sterna maxima. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 04 February 2012.
Disclaimer:	To make use of this information, please check the <Terms of Use>.
Feedback:	If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided